The Crown's Obsession

Music Reccomendation: Bring Me Ice Cream by Tim Wynn

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A person who wore a black coat walked on the road with his hands in his coat pockets while snow fell from the sky. The sky was dark, and the area he was walking in had little to no light. His features were defined with a sharp nose and sharp jaw with thick eyebrows below which held the deep red eyes that appeared to be intelligent. His straight black hair had been combed back, leaving a single lock of hair that was stubborn enough to come to fall on his forehead.

Vladimir's footsteps were firm on the ground, and a few steps behind him, his loyal servant, Odin, followed him. The vampire servant's body moved like a pendulum in motion as he swayed left and right.

Odin had no idea why his Master was walking here when his Master could make use of the time to rest in the coffin, but somewhere he was also glad that his Master didn't go to sleep, who knew when he would wake up again. The night was cold, and the snow continued to fall from the sky.

"Master?" Odin called Vladimir, but the vampire didn't respond to his call.

Vladimir had never thought that there would come a time where he would blame himself for the loss of his daughter. If he hadn't gone to sleep, his daughter Constance would still be alive. He was the head of the Hell, who had not visited the place for a long time, and his underlings were the ones who were looking after it. But not everything was under control, and things were being misused in his absence.

Unable to stay in the cave for long, Vladimir had come out for a walk. Instead of flying, he had chosen to walk on the roads, where he would get his possible meal from a passing carriage. "Which is the closest village from here?" he asked his servant.

"Master, it is Morriest, but I believe there are a lot of vampires living there than the humans," answered Odin. His feet tried to keep its pace with his master's feet so that he wouldn't end up losing the sight of his master.

"Who cares if there are vampires in there. You forget, Odin, my meals come in all forms. Humans, vampires, they are all on the list," Vladimir was still walking when his nose picked up the smell of blood that was fresh as well as strong. "Looks like people were slaughtered." His footsteps stopped, and he looked in the direction from where the smell was drifting and in an instant, Vladimir transformed himself to a bat, and he flew in the direction of where he smelt the blood, disappearing into the darkness.

"Master!" Odin shouted, and he turned to a bat, searching for his Master. He finally found his Master standing in the midst of a possible sacrifice. His eyebrows raised and he looked at the demons whose necks were either slit or completely torn out from their bodies. "It looks like it was only a few minutes ago since the massacre took place."

"Seventeen minutes and seconds counting," replied Vladimir by giving the precise time since the bloodshed took place in here. His eyes lazily swept across the dead bodies, "These are demons of a higher level than the average. What's going on in Hell, Odin? Why are there so many of them outside? I thought we spoke about the stop on the transformation of the demons to vampires, or are they old demons," Vladimir was not impressed with the bloodshed of the demons, "And who dares to kill these many demons?"

When he stepped further, observing the bodies, his eyes fell on the petals that belonged to a red rose. His eyes narrowed, and he bent down, something he often didn't do and Odin looked surprised.

"My daughter is dead, and I have seen her body in the coffin, resting peacefully, yet why does it feel like she is still around?" Vladimir's voice was empty, with little to no emotion in it. He picked up the petals of the rose in his hand that was on the ground, running it between his fingers. "They are almost the same. The same texture."

Vladimir's memory went back to the past before he had gone to take his nap. It was a few years back before Constance had turned curious about life outside.

'Why can't I go out?' he heard her voice from one of the many memories he held with him, 'Odin and the others step outside this place, but I am not allowed.'

'The world outside is not safe, Constance,' said Vladimir to his daughter, who looked not more than fifteen. 'The world outside is filled with the filthy people and their greed. It is worse than Hell.'

'Hell?' came her innocent voice to ring in his ears and in the back of Vladimir's mind as he continued to stare at the petals. 'You think Hell is better?'

'It is safer for you,' came the stern voice from Vladimir. 'One day, when the time is right, we can visit the people who reside on the other side of the forest. Odin said you picked up a new trick. What is it?'

Hearing this, his daughter's face brightened, forgetting about their earlier discussion. She pulled out a knife from her dress. She raised her hand and went to stab his hand with the knife, and Vladimir didn't blink his eyes, nor did he make an effort to pull away his hand. Just as the knife went to prick him, it turned to petals of red roses, and the young girl laughed.

'Did you see that?'

She had looked up at him with so much of excitement. It was probably the first and one of the very few things she had acquired from him, while she had received the rest from her deceased mother. Constance didn't have any ability until then, and when she had shown him the trick, he had been proud of her.

He knew the shape of the petals and the peculiar scent that it left behind. His teeth gritted in anger, "It looks like someone is mimicking what Constance used to do. How dare he kill her," came the cold rage-filled voice from Vladimir, "My daughter, she was like her mother, and she had never hurt a single soul."

More anger filled in his mind because if his daughter was dead, that would mean her soul had probably gone to heaven. Vladimir wished Constance had made one grave misdeed. Just one and it would have possibly been enough to send her soul to Hell where he would be able to pick her up and place her back in here. But his daughter was not brought up the way he was.

"What is the status of the girl and the King, Odin?" demanded Vladimir.

"They are still in the castle, Master. I don't think they are going to leave the castle anytime soon. I got hold of her parents. Would you like to bring them to you?"

"I doubt the King would understand the importance of the girl's parents death. Don't forget, Odin, tomorrow night when we take the girl from there, then starts the torture."

"Yes, Master!"